Shogun
by uo-chou
Summary: A cruel twist of fate changes Naruto's life forever. Spirit broken and cast out of Konoha, he is reforged as a Samurai of the Fire Country. His new dream? To one day become Daimyo of Daimyos and Samurai Supreme; The Shogun. Rated T for politics and swords
1. Chapter 1

Shōgun:

A Story of The Elemental Nations

Chapter I: Exile

Alright, I think I'm going to have fun with this one. It's going to be incredibly divergent from canon and different than many other stories out there, since Naruto isn't going to be a ninja, or even live in Konoha. I'm still going to give the Leaf some love, though, as events will intersect in time, allowing characters and events to play out, though in entirely different ways.

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Iruka stood up, smiling. He was 16, a chuunin of the Leaf, and today was his fifteenth day teaching at the Konoha ninja academy. He had been a well rounded, if bookish, young ninja and his Jounin sensei had immediately recommended him at the academy once he earned his rank at 15. Still, he had been asked to get a bit more experience in the field first, and he had spent the last eleven months working with various chuunin teams, and sometimes even alongside jounin. He had learned a lot of new things, and was glad for the experience. Now, though, he felt like he had finally found his place. He had always wanted to be a teacher, and history and social studies, the subjects he was currently teaching, was his favorites.

"Hello class," said the scar-faced chuunin.

"Hello Iruka-sensei!" they called.

"Today we will be talking about the governmental structure of the elemental nations, and how it came to be." Several students eyes him warily; those were big words and even bigger concepts for seven year olds. Still, they were supposed to be the best and the brightest. The ninja academy didn't accept any other type.

"The government of the elemental nations can be described as one entity, under the rule of one man, though many people would disagree. Traditionally, it is taught that the entire continent is ruled by the Emperor, and that all power stems from him, and most civilians believe this. This is not true, especially from the viewpoint of us, the ninjas, or anyone in the know. In actuality, the elemental continent is split into pieces, thusly," here, Iruka pulled a roll-up map of the elemental continent down over the blackboard, filled with hundreds of boundaries marking different territories.

"As you can see, most of the continent is split between five large countries; Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. Each of these countries is split into many territories, each rules by a minor daimyo. The entire country is ruled by one main Daimyo, who all of the other daimyos are vassals of. In law, each of the minor daimyos are forbidden from making war with their neighbors, or from declaring their allegiance to anyone else but the rules of their country, but in actuality they fight with each other quite frequently and show fealty to other nations on their own whim, which is usually directly proportional to how close they are to the border of another country."

Iruka stopped to let his words digest. Most of the students had been copying his words down as notes, and several looked confused. The chuunin didn't blame them; it was confusing material. Many adults couldn't get a grip on this stuff.

"So we have five main countries composed of many smaller 'fiefdoms', or territories granted to minor daimyos by the main Daimyo of the nation, called the Lord," recapped Iruka. "There are also many smaller countries scattered around the elemental nations, usually controlled by a single Daimyo. The leaders who rules the smaller countries are usually considered somewhere in between the status of a minor daimyo and a Lord, depending on their military and economic strength. Over time, many of the smaller countries have been absorbed into the larger nations through treaty or military acquisition, so the remaining Daimyos are usually fiercely independent and militarily powerful compared to their size."

Iruka stopped for a moment, listening to a score of furiously scribbling hands. "Now, keep in mind the information I just shared with you, while I explain the other side of the government, from the eyes of an ignorant civilian or a member of the Royal Court." Iruka smiled. "The Royal Court is located in the heart of the Imperial City, located to the Northeast of Fire Country. The Imperial City is considered its own nation, and it is bigger than any other city in the elemental continent, with over nine million people living within its borders."

Several students gaped; Konoha was considered enormous by most standards, and it only contained a little over one hundred thousand people.

Iruka continued, "The Royal Court, where the Emperor lives, is considered a "country within a country", and is located in the exact center of the Imperial City. It is protected by over ten thousand samurai and foot soldiers, and over one hundred ninja. These forces are made up of soldiers from every nation on the continent, under the command of officers born in the Royal Court, descended from Royal blood. It is required that every nation send at least a few hundred of their best troops and a few ninja to serve under the emperor each year, as a tithe and a gesture of fealty. In reality, the various Daimyos allow this for the sake of their image in the eyes of the common people. Many people believe the Emperor is close to being divine, and some even worship him. If the Daimyos failed to show respect for the emperor then they would have a hard time ruling the people."

Several eyes were beginning to droop, so Iruka decided to call it quits for now. He would resume this topic tomorrow. He didn't notice one face in the very back, attached to a spiky blonde mop of hair. If he had looked at Naruto's face, he would have seen an expression of rapt attention.

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Later that afternoon, after class had ended, Naruto sat alone on the swing in front of the school, slowly pumping his legs back and forth, thinking. Unlike the majority of his classmates, he was terrible at reading, and had struggled in his attempt to read the history textbook assigned to him by the academy. He had tried, but maybe understood one word out of three. Today, though… the lecture today made him want to try again, with a passion he never knew he possessed. There was a whole world out there, filled with leaders and politics. Emperors and Lord and probably princesses, too… Naruto had always wanted to marry a princess, ever since he was five years old.

His thoughts took him to a magical place, where he wasn't a poorly educated, mostly ignored orphan, but the leader of a whole country, and the most powerful ninja in the land besides! As he finished swinging and started walking home, he daydreamed of defeating an evil villain and rescuing an old wise Daimyo's beautiful daughter from his clutches… Of course she would be his bride afterwards, that's how it always worked in stories, anyways…

A noise caught Naruto's attention, and he looked up. He was in an alley less than a block from his apartment building, and the sun stretched red over the horizon, on the verge of setting. He must have been on that swing longer than he thought. Something caught his eye, the source of the noise. Crouched low against the wall was a beggar, filthy and possibly drunk. He eyed Naruto creepily, and his old eyes widened.

"You!" he cried, venom in his voice. Naruto had seen enough; he began to run. Occasionally someone would get angry at him for no reason, and it was always a good idea to run. He had been slow a few times, and had a few scars to prove it. Well, maybe not physical scars; cuts tended to close up within seconds without scarring. That didn't make them hurt any less, though. He smiled as he ran into the almost-deserted market district. There were still several people here; he hoped that would deter the beggar.

Naruto ran faster and faster, the crazy drunk man still chasing him, when a women carrying an infant stepped into his path without looking. His eyes widened, and he attempted to stop himself, but he was just moving too fast. He crashed to the ground, sending woman and baby sprawling. Several people gasped, and the woman struggled to recover from having the wind knocked out of her. Naruto looked behind him, and the beggar was standing just beyond the ring of people staring at the scene. Naruto still needed to flee, but he had to make sure the woman and her child were all right first.

"Please…" he said, looking at the woman, "is she all right?" The woman was cradling baby's body to her now, and tears leaked from her face. She turned toward him, and as she did, he saw the infant's head flop up and down lifelessly atop its broken neck.

A strange, sick feeling welled up in Naruto's stomach, followed by what felt like a fist gripping his heart. A sensation of cold unreality washed over him, and all his mind could do was repeat the same word, over and over, 'no, no, no!'

"No!" he cried. "Please, please, it was an accident, oh Kami-sama, I'm so sorry." Tears leaked from his face, but he didn't feel them. He did, however, feel the brick that caught him in the small of the back.

The seven year old child stumbled, and almost fell to his knees, but that would have been the end of him, he was certain. He looked behind him, then all around. Most of the people looked incredibly angry, and now the young woman whose child he had inadvertently killed was staring at him, her hollow, hateful, pure-white eyes filled with sorrow and rage. They started closing in on him.

Naruto knew his life was in danger, and so he ducked between a tall pair of legs and darted away as fast as he could. The mob was quick on his tail, and for all of his speed he was only seven years old. One of them caught him almost instantly, and soon they were on him, kicking and punching and screaming. One of them even bit him. He cried out in pain, screaming and sobbing as one of them tore out a big patch of his hair. The old beggar from before tried to gouge him in the eye, but Naruto turned his head aside and the man's filthy thumb caught him in the cheek, bruising his whiskered face.

Before anything too severe could happen two members of the Konoha Military Police arrived, blowing their whistles to disperse the mob. The people parted, revealing Naruto lying on the ground, beaten almost unconscious. He had two black eyes, both lips were swollen, and his skin was a continuous bruise. Several teeth littered the ground, and from the way he was breathing both of the Uchihas could tell that at least one rib was cracked.

One of them, Uchiha Kentu, smirked, then picked Naruto up bodily, throwing the injured child over his shoulder. The other dark haired officer, Uchiha Samusa, commanded the crowd to disperse, to their protests. He was about to turn around, when he saw the woman from before, a Hyuuga, clutching her dead baby and screaming that a demon had murdered her.

The Uchiha froze in shock, he had really thought this just a random bit of mob violence against the resident scapegoat. A dead Hyuuga... And judging from the woman's unblemished forehead, a dead _Main _House Hyuuga! This was bad. Unless he treated this very seriously, he could lose his position, or even his life.

Samusa quickly led the Hyuuga aside, away from the angry mutterings of the people turning around to go back home.

"Hyuuga-sama, please tell me what has occurred," asked the office, pulling out a writing pad.

"That monster… He took away by baby! My dear little Hanabi!" she broke down in sobs, clutching the dead one year old to her chest.

The Uchiha officer discretely made a few hand seals, and a mud clone rose from the ground. He gave it terse instructions to report the incident to his superior back at the station, presumably where his partner and Naruto would be by now. This kind of stuff was too complicated for an officer of his pay grade, after all. He comforted the Hyuuga woman as best he could, then led her slowly back to the Hyuuga compound. Hopefully someone would meet him there, as there was no way he could be able to explain this to the Hyuuga clan head himself.

Samusa's clone actually made it back to the Military Police Station before Kentu and Naruto, and handed the note to the commanding officer, Uchiha Nanoha. She reread it three times, then cursed, loudly and repeatedly. Quickly rounding up a group of her most trusted officers, she quickly explained the situation, and ordered two of her higher-ranked and more diplomatic subordinates to make all possible haste to the Hyuuga compound to explain the situation to Hiashi, the clan head. One of the others was sent to inform the Hokage. She calmly waited for the perpetrator to show up, a grim expression on her face. Tonight was going to be a very long night.

&-&

It was indeed a long night, for all parties involved. Hyuugas Hiashi the mother of his dead child, Hikaru met with Uchiha Nanoha, Assistant Chief of the Military Police, Chief of Police Uchiha Fugaku. Also present were several witnesses from the mob earlier, and the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. They argued for hours over Naruto's fate. The Hyuugas were calling for Naruto's execution for murder, the Uchiha Police were willing to charge him with manslaughter, and the Hokage maintained it was all a terrible, tragic accident.

What finally tipped the scales was one witness's testimony. He was a veteran of the Third Secret Ninja War, a man who had served his village and nation and then forgot how to live in peacetime, loosing everything including his house upon his return to the village. His name was Gurumatsu Duni, the old man who had chased Naruto from the alleyway, though no one else in the room knew this. When he was finished spinning his lies, Sarutobi's shoulders slumped. He quietly agreed to send Naruto from the village to a secure location, and that he would be banished from Konoha forever.

&-&

It was a long night for Naruto, too. Very long. First, he was taken into a dark, windowless room and questioned endlessly. They wouldn't give him supper or a drink, and simply laughed when he asked. They forced him to piss and shit in a bucket, and they laughed at him when he did that, too. He finally ended up in a too-bright metal cage, and any time he started dozing off a smirking officer would bang on the bars with a kunai, causing him to jump up in fear. They laughed at this, too.

Naruto swore that one day he would get back at the smirking dark-eyed bastards.

By the time it was dawn, the young child's eyes were drooping, and his mouth felt like a sandbox. He wanted water and a nap like he had never wanted anything in his life. He wanted to see the Hokage… and he wanted to go home, even if it was to the orphanage, where they treated him poorly. At least they gave him water and a bed to sleep on there. Still, he persevered. He kept a stony look on his face, and forced himself not to try. The bullies always went harder on him when he cried.

Twenty minutes after six in the morning, one of his wishes was granted. The Hokage, his face frowning, showed up. Naruto's face broke into a wide smile, and he jumped up.

"Old man, old man! Help, these black eyes locked me in and won't give me any water! Please!" The Hokage's frown deepened, and he turned to the guard who was standing completely rigid.

"Did you deprive this child of water?" he asked. The guard gulped, and began to stammer out apologies. The Hokage's arm moved, swifter than even the sharingan could see, and tore the police badge from the man's chest. "You are no longer a members of the Konoha Military Police. I am demoting you to genin, you will only do D-Rank missions for the next two years. Think before you act from now on." The guard looked aghast, almost like he was going to cry. He quietly slunk off. Naruto mentally cheered, he thought things were going to be OK now.

Once they were alone, the Hokage turned to face the blond Academy Student. His craggy features were wet with tears. Naruto felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh, _Naruto_," said the Hokage, still in tears, "Why did it have to by the Hyuuga clan head's child? Anyone else, and I could have made it all go away, but that clan…" he shook his head, and reached through the bars and pulled the boy into a hug. Naruto began to sob as well, realizing that everything was _not_ alright.

"Jiji, what…" he was interrupted by a sob, "What's going to happen to me? Please, Jiji, please…" Naruto was almost hysterical.

The Hokage looked into the boy's eyes, those too-blue eyes that were exactly the same as his successor's, and spoke. "Naruto, my boy… You are to be sent away. You will travel to another village not far from here, and you'll be given to a civilian orphanage and sent to a normal school. I'm sorry, Naruto, but after what happened you can no longer be a shinobi, or even a resident of the Leaf. You will be required to stay in the village we place you in for the rest of your life, if you try to leave then you will be killed."

Naruto looked at his grandfather figure in horror. "Why? Why Jiji, I didn't mean to, please. He was chasing me, and I didn't see that lady, she just stepped in front of me." He was broken now, sobbing incoherently. Sarutobi did his best to comfort the boy through the bars. Before too long, Naruto passed out in exhaustion.

Sarutobi quickly cast a forced-sleep genjutsu on the boy, and unlocked the cage. He secured the holding area so that no one could walk in on him and pulled out a scroll, an inkpot, and a brush. He uncovered Naruto's upper arm, and began paining on a basic blood-based storage seal. When he was done, he pricked the tip of Naruto's finger with a Kunai to get some of his blood for the technique, then made the seal permanent. He sealed the scroll into the storage seal, then picked up the boy and exited the Military Police Headquarters. He had a job to do. Sometimes, like now, he wondered if it was worth doing.

&-&

The Next day, a small caravan of civilian traders guarded by a genin team left Konoha for the small village of Kaido, forty miles distant. They were accompanied by the now civilian, Uzumaki Naruto, along with all of his worldly possessions. Only one of the travelers would survive the journey.

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Author's Note: Cliffy, cliff-cliff cliffy! Haha, I'm evil. Hopefully you liked the story so far, you can see already that it's going to be quite different. In the next chapter Naruto will be 'reborn'. ;)

Please read and review, let me know what you liked and what you didn't. Reviews are like pure corn liquor, and I have a case of the DTs.


	2. Chapter 2

Shōgun:

A Story of The Elemental Nations

Chapter II: Rebirth

Well, it's been a little bit, hasn't it? As always, life got in the way. When I started writing fanfiction I was a single guy working the graveyard shift. Now I'm a married father of two and I can barely find time to unwind, let alone write. I know that this isn't the story most of you hoped I would update first, but it's the one that I feel I can write the best, as it's a complete AU. If I can keep writing after this, which I hope is the case, be on the lookout for updates to my more popular tales. Enjoy!

Naruto clutched his knapsack to his chest, shaking in fear from his place under the ruined wagon. The bandit's attack had caught his convey completely by surprise. His group probably would have been OK, but the Jounin sensei of the Genin team guarding the caravan had been killed by a sniper's arrow in the opening attack, before he even knew what was happening. Seeing their teach die messily with by an arrow through the throat had demoralized the three apprentice nin and the mob of over twenty bandits were able to dispatch them, though not without losses. In the end the only survivors were Naruto, who had hidden when the attack occurred, and less than a dozen bandits sporting kunai and shuriken wounds.

Their mission complete, and their spoils all the richer due to their comrades deaths, the remaining bandits quickly made off with anything of value to lick their wounds, leaving the twice-cursed boy alone amongst the dead. Even the oxen and horses had been killed in the conflict.

Naruto lay still for at least a day and a night, slowly rocking back and forth, his young mind temporarily shattered. He knew he deserved this for what he had done to the baby. He deserved worse, he should have been killed with all of the others. At the same time a savage, primal part of him was glad that he still lived. This made him feel more guilty yet. As time passed Naruto grew hungry and thirsty. He drank from his canteen sparingly, taking small sips. He had no idea when he would see more water.

He ate of the sole food he had; a cookie one of the traveling merchant's children had given him. The boy's name had been Kenji, Naruto remembered. Later, when he peeked his head out from under the wagon Naruto saw Kenji's body. It reminded him of the baby... only two days ago. Two days and two lives ruined, by mindless violence. By people doing anything they wanted. By people who acted outside of the law. As he wandered around the ruined caravan, looking at the bodies, he made up his mind. He decided that as long as he lived, he would fight those who went against the law. He would become strong, even if he couldn't become a shinobi, even if he never learned a single ninjutsu.

He grew hungry on the third day, and ate a piece of one of the horses. He sliced it off of the beast's flank and coated it in salt from a barrel left behind by the bandits before devouring the raw flesh in abject hunger. He repeated the process again, this time storing the meat in his bag. He filled his canteen from the water cask and took two more besides, and started walking away from Konoha. He wasn't going to Kaido, he knew. He was going to find somewhere he could forge his own destiny. He had seen proof that even veteran Shinobi could be taken down by a single arrow. He had seen that that there was strength in numbers that trumped even skill. He had learned much. All the sun kissed boy needed now was a cause, a place, a person... Something to believe him and help him become what he _needed_ to become.

Naruto walked for three days before he saw another human face. It came in the form of of Samurai, one of the many parties of Fire soldiers that patrolled the Daimyo's roads to keep them safe from disasters like the one Naruto experienced. There weren't nearly enough Samarai to be in all places at once, which is why bandits thrived even on protected roads.

The leader of the patrol, a high ranked man of the Samarai class named Oda Nobuhide, saw the boy first. He released his tightly coiled chakra for less than a second, letting it bounce against his surroundings and return to him. He detected no traps or threat from the boy, so he dismounted his war horse and approached the child.

Naruto, weary beyond belief, let the man approach. The noble, seeing the state of the child, knew what had happened. The bandits were growing bold this season. He knew that the child's life was over. If anyone else had survived the attack they would be here with him.

Nobuhide was a fierce but gentle man, a veteran warrior and a husband of fifteen year with no children. He knew himself or his wife to be sterile, and no offspring would be forthcoming to succeed him. As a ranking Samarai and minor daimyo with a small fifdom he was expected to take a mistress to sire an heir if his wife couldn't. In spite of his arranged marriage he had fallen head over heels in love with his gentle wife, so much that he could not bear to take another. Adoption was not an option; no noble would ever give up a son.

The minor daimyo pulled off his shining red helmet, letting his waist length blond hair that was beginning to go grey spill out. He knelt down to the boy and put his enormous hand on the child's shoulder. Blue eyes met blue, and Nobuhide saw nothing there. This boy had seen death, and it had almost entirely claimed him.

The Samarai picked up the child, cradling him like a newborn, and climbed aboard his steed. When his men questioned what he was doing with the child, he smiled.

"I am taking my son home," said the warrior. The boy had been delivered to him by Kami, Oda knew. What other chance was there of a boy sharing his extremely rare eye and hair color coming to him? He knew that his wife would be pleased, and smiled.

It was not the way things were done, but his men did not question him. Nobuhide was a fair leader and powerful ruler. All of them knew what the boy's fate would have been if their daimyo hadn't interceded.

Though he knew it not as he drifted off on horseback, Uzumaki Naruto had died. He had died and been reborn a Samurai.

Let me know your thoughts! The good and the bad please.


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